Professional development of teacher educators: what do they do? Findings from an explorative international study

Abstract

The attention being devoted to teacher educators as professionals and their professional development is unquestionably increasing. Whilst much of that attention is being directed at teacher educators in different countries, international comparisons have been quite rare to date. The research question addressed in this study was: 'Do experienced teacher educators from different countries differ in their concerns, professional development activities and developmental goals?' Interviews were conducted with 25 participants from 10 different countries, all of whom were experienced teacher educators. Teacher educators' concerns varied in the course of their careers. During their induction their primary focus tended to be on survival, whereas later on in their careers their concerns became linked to their own professional identity and their students as individuals. Participants from all the participating countries were involved in a range of developmental activities. A large majority was involved in research-related activities which they perceived as an important tool in their professional development. All the participants had plans for their further professional development but sometimes foresaw hindrances to the realisation of those plans, such as a lack of resources and time. The interview data did not provide evidence to suggest clear country-specific differences. In fact, the opposite would appear to be the case: teacher educators from different countries seem to have similar concerns, and their current professional development activities and plans for future development are also quite comparable. Keywords: professional development; teacher educators; international comparison; international researchIntroduction There is growing recognition that teacher educators can only continue to act as professionals if they are engaged in further professional development throughout their entire career. In the slipstream of the broadly acknowledged views on improving teacher education there is growing focus on the qualities of teacher educators involved in teaching the next generations of teachers (ETUCE Professional Development in Education, 2017 Vol. 43, No. 2, 163-178, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2015 concerns; that is, how to ensure sufficient numbers of novice teacher educators (Snoek et al. 2011).Mc Gee and Lawrence (2009, p. 140) argue that: 'Teacher educators work with teachers to promote and support professional learning, and so their own professional learning is particularly important. It is surprising, therefore, to find that the professional learning of teacher educators is often neglected'. Teacher educators themselves as a professional group are increasingly aware of the need to continue to work on their competences and they acknowledge the importance of being -or becoming -lifelong learners who keep in touch with the latest developments and insights in their own field (Swennen and Van der Klink 2009).In this article we use the following definition of teacher educators proposed by, among others, Dengerink...

The professional development of higher education-based teacher educators: needs and realities

“…They appeared to favour a more informal way of connecting with colleagues when necessary and appropriate. These findings are supported by previous studies (Smith 2017, Van der Klink et al 2017, Tack et al 2018.…”

The professional learning needs and priorities of higher-education-based teacher educators in England, Ireland and Scotland

“…While the majority of participants in this study came under this category, they also work alongside younger colleagues with, often, stronger research backgrounds. For both groups to effectively share practices and experiences in future, further work is needed in the organisational cultures found in many HEIs despite a recent growth in the levels of collaborative support for neophyte university employees (Laudel and Glaser 2008;Van der Klink et al 2017). This need for opportunities to generate critical, collaborative professional learning conversations has been supported in the literature (Hoban 2002;Loughran 2014), with research beginning to explore professional learning/development communities for teacher educators (Hadar and Brody 2010;MacPhail et al 2014).…”

Changing identities and practices: transitioning from the role of supervisor to placement tutor in initial teacher education in Ireland

“…The monthly meetings and other professional encounters placement tutors have with one another, with student teachers, HEI and school staff all impact on the ongoing shaping of professional identity. At a time where increasing attention is paid to the professional development of teacher educators (Van der Klink et al, 2017), this raises questions about the kinds of professional development opportunities available to those who work as part-time teacher educators.…”